India – ‘24-Week Limit For Abortion Is Obsolete’

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act does not permit abortions beyond 24 weeks, but this limit is obsolete, as abortions can now safely be performed right up to full term, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves says

By Menaka Rao
2 Feb, 2024

New Delhi: On January 23, the Delhi High Court recalled its order granting permission for abortion to a 26-year-old woman. Her husband had died two months ago. She was about 30 weeks pregnant when she approached the court. The earlier order was based on the fact that she had suicide ideation due to her bereavement, but the court turned back on its previous order after doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) raised objections to the late-term abortion saying that the foetus was viable and it could be born alive after the procedure.

This case is similar to the one decided in October 2023 by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, which involved a married woman with postpartum psychosis after a recent delivery. There too, AIIMS doctors had sent clarifications that it was a late-term pregnancy as defined by the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 2021 (MTP Act). The Supreme Court not only rejected the abortion plea at the time, but also told the woman to deliver the baby at AIIMS and give it up for adoption if the couple wishes to do so.

Continued: https://www.indiaspend.com/indiaspend-interviews/24-week-limit-for-abortion-is-obsolete-892891

Abortion law in India is changing. Advocate Amit Mishra is at the centre of it all

Debate on woman’s right to terminate pregnancy as against right of unborn child has been gaining steam in India. Dr Mishra says he gets 1-2 cases every month involving these rights.

APOORVA MANDHANI
03 February, 2024

New Delhi: ‘The baby is currently viable — that is he will show signs of life and have a strong possibility of survival — so we would need a directive from the Supreme Court on whether a foeticide can be done before the abortion.’ This is what an AIIMS doctor wrote in an email to the Supreme Court on 10 October last year. The email changed the course of the debate on abortion in India.

The email was written after a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, on 9 October, allowed a 27-year-old woman, ‘X’, to terminate her 26-week pregnancy.

Continued: https://theprint.in/judiciary/abortion-law-in-india-is-changing-advocate-amit-mishra-is-at-the-centre-of-it-all/1950906/

03.02.2024

News

AIIMS

All India Institute of Medical Science

Amit Mishra

Delhi High Court

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

India – ‘Fetus is normal’ — AIIMS asks HC to reconsider order allowing abortion for 31 weeks pregnant woman

Delhi HC order allowed abortion citing psychiatric report that woman was suffering from extreme trauma. Hospital's application says 'feticide' in this case 'neither justified nor ethical'.

BHADRA SINHA
16 January, 2024

New Delhi: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has expressed reservations about a Delhi High Court order permitting abortion to a 31-week pregnant woman.

In an application filed Monday before the high court, the hospital said the “fetus is grossly normal” and, therefore, “feticide” in the case “is neither justified nor ethical”.

Continued: https://theprint.in/judiciary/fetus-is-normal-aiims-asks-hc-to-reconsider-order-allowing-abortion-for-31-weeks-pregnant-woman/1925498/

Reporting on Reproductive Health, Part 4: India’s limited abortion landscape

by MUSKAN BANSAL
Nov 21, 2023

In India, as in many other countries, abortion is a divisive social and political issue. Although it is legal to get an abortion in India, there are many obstacles to obtaining one. The health consequences are worrying, and the legal landscape is complex.

Progressive legislation, such as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, is intended to provide for safe and legal abortions, but a lack of education about reproductive health, and deficiency in healthcare facilities, has limited women’s ability to benefit from the law’s provisions. Meanwhile, cultural norms and taboos around termination and sexuality have led women to deal with unwanted pregnancies in secret, often unsafe ways.

Continued: https://ijnet.org/en/story/reporting-reproductive-health-part-4-indias-limited-abortion-landscape

21.11.2023

Commentary

CommonHealth India

Dr. Alka Barua

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

A narrow medical view on abortion endangers women’s agency

The sudden concern for 'foeticide' and 'beating heart' can tilt the concern in favour of the foetus — who is accorded personhood — while the full-fledged adult woman as a person is ignored. A similar tilt led to the overturning of women's right to abortion in the US in 2022

Written by Amar Jesani, Sunita Sheel Bandewar
October 24, 2023

In less than a year, pregnant women were made to go through two extremes by the Supreme Court. On September 29, 2022, a three-judge bench of the SC headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), in a case seeking permission for abortion, took a strongly principled stand by pronouncing that, “The right of every woman to make reproductive choices without undue interference from the state is central to the idea of human dignity. Deprivation of access to reproductive healthcare or emotional and physical well-being also injures the dignity of women” (X vs Principal Secretary, MoHFW, GoI).

The optimism due to the recognition of self-determination to abortion lasted for just about a year. On October 16, another three-judge bench headed by the CJI, refused a woman the choice to undergo abortion because her pregnancy had crossed the 24 weeks of gestation — the foetus was medically normal and her mental health condition, though severe, was pronounced to be manageable. The court seems to have privileged a narrow medical opinion against the principled position of giving primacy to the choice of abortion by the pregnant woman.

Continued: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/abortion-narrow-medical-view-women-agency-8995992/

24.10.2023

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

India – The abortion right need not pit the woman against the foetus

Recent decisions from South Korea and Colombia have recognised that restricting abortion did not really protect the foetus. It simply pushed women to seek unsafe abortions and harmed their health.

Written by Gauri Pillai
October 21, 2023

The abortion right is in a state of flux globally. Much of it has to do with the role of foetal interests (or, in some contexts, foetal life) in setting boundaries to the right. The foetus played a significant role in the 2022 United States decision to roll back the right to abortion and the 2020 Polish decision to prohibit abortions on grounds of severe foetal anomaly. It also posed a challenge to the 2019 South Korean and the 2021 Colombian decisions to fully and partially decriminalise abortion.

In India, in contrast, foetal concerns have historically not been a major part of abortion regulation. At the time of passing the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act in 1971, only two members of Parliament protested against abortion (calling it “murder”). The others endorsed it and affirmed that “there is no violation of the right to life in any manner”. Courts, too, have followed a similar trend. At the very least, they have refused to enter into the question of whether the foetus has a right to life. In 2016, the Bombay High Court categorically decided that the right to life begins only at birth.

Continued: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/abortion-right-woman-against-foetus-8993586/

21.10.2023

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

Abortion seekers in India battle social stigma, poor medical facilities despite its legal status

A 2019 study published in the British medical journal BMJ Global Health unveiled that approximately two-thirds of abortions in India are categorised as unsafe.

Written by Sushmita Panda
October 18, 2023

The Supreme Court on Monday denied giving permission to a married woman who wanted to terminate her over 26-week pregnancy. According to the apex court, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Medical Board had found “no substantial foetal abnormalities” and a pre-term delivery carried the risk of being born with physical and mental deformities.

Reportedly, the woman had approached the top court seeking permission to terminate her pregnancy due to her inability to take care of the child due to post-partum psychosis and other health issues.

Continued: https://www.financialexpress.com/healthcare/news-healthcare/abortion-seekers-in-india-battle-social-stigma-poor-medical-facilities-despite-its-legal-status/3276184/

India – Supreme Court rejects plea to end 26-week pregnancy

A bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud also says that neither of the two AIIMS reports ‘indicates that a termination is immediately necessary to save the life of the petitioner’.

Written by Ananthakrishnan G
October 17, 2023

THE SUPREME Court on Monday declined permission to a married woman to terminate her over 26-week pregnancy, saying the AIIMS medical board had found “no substantial foetal abnormalities” and a pre-term delivery carried the risk of being born with physical and mental deformities.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, pointed out that the pregnancy had crossed 24 weeks — the upper limit for allowing Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP).

Continued: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/sc-rejects-woman-request-end-26-week-pregnancy-8985563/

17.10.2023

News

Aishwarya Bhati

All India Institute of Medical Sciences

lactational amenorrhea

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

CJI Chandrachud Calls Indian Abortion Laws Liberal, But State Continues To Decide Who Gets To Abort

The Indian abortion law remains patriarchal, hetero-normative and transphobic. The law is yet to recognise a woman’s bodily autonomy and thus to acknowledge abortion as a matter of right. The authority of decision-making upon a person’s pregnancy rests with the State and the woman has to wait for the State’s benevolence which leads to a plethora of illegal and unsafe abortions.

Shahina K. K.
16 OCT 2023

While considering the plea of a 26-year-old woman for medical termination of the 26-week-old fetus, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud observed that India is far ahead of other countries with regard to abortion laws. He also remarked that Indian law gives paramountcy to the life of the mother.

How close does this observation go to reality? Does Indian law respect a woman’s autonomy over her body? A closer examination of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, 1971 and the prevailing court judgments present a less sanguine perspective. Even the recent 2021 amendment to the MTP Act, rather than broadening access to abortion services, tends to restrict it.

Continued: https://www.outlookindia.com/national/cji-chandrachud-calls-indian-abortion-laws-liberal-but-state-continues-to-decide-who-gets-to-abort-news-324752

16.10.2023

Centre for Justice Law and Society

Dr Shanti Lal Shah

Indian penal code

Justice D Y Chandrachud

Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act

MTP Act

patriarchal abortion law

Pratigya Campaign

Shahina K.K.

Her body, her choice: Why a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy must be upheld
For abortions within 24 weeks of gestation, there is no legal requirement for pregnant persons to approach courts for permission. Yet, the petitioner in a recent case was forced to approach the Supreme Court, as healthcare providers disregarded her decisional autonomy to terminate her pregnancy.

Written by Dipika Jain
October 15, 2023

A 27-year-old married woman, mother of a four-year-old and a one-year-old, filed a petition with the Supreme Court to terminate an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. Her husband was the sole earning member of the family, supporting the family, his sister and his mother. The petitioner discovered her pregnancy late due to Lactational Amenorrhea, a condition where breastfeeding suppresses menstruation. She was dealing with postpartum depression and was not mentally prepared to have a third child, which led to a suicide attempt. She approached several healthcare providers to terminate her pregnancy, but most doctors declined as she was 20 weeks pregnant. On October 4, 2023, she approached the Supreme Court seeking permission for abortion under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act along with the associated Rules.

Continued: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/her-body-her-choice-woman-terminate-pregnancy-upheld-8983912/

15.10.2023